Zuni Language
The Zuni language is a unique language spoken by the Zuni people at Zuni Pueblo in west-central New Mexico. As of the early 1990s, there were around three thousand speakers, and it remains a vibrant language that is actively learned by children. The term "Zuni" originates from the Spanish "Zuñi," derived from the Keresan name for the Zuni people, "Sini." In their own language, the Zuni refer to themselves as "siwi."
Linguistically, Zuni is classified as a language isolate, meaning it has not been definitively linked to any other language. It features distinctive characteristics such as glottalized consonants and a dual versus plural distinction in grammar. The language has been the subject of various scholarly works, including the first grammar published by Stanley Newman in 1965, which provided a precise linguistic description. Despite some attempts by linguists to connect Zuni with distant language families, these relationships remain unsubstantiated. Overall, Zuni is characterized by its rich cultural heritage and its significant role in the identity of the Zuni people.
Zuni Language
Culture area: Southwest
Tribe affected: Zuni
The Zuni language is spoken at Zuni Pueblo in west-central New Mexico. In the early 1990’s there were approximately three thousand speakers of Zuni. Unlike many native languages of North America, Zuni is still being learned by children and is highly viable. The name “Zuni” comes from the Spanish Zuñi, which in turn derives from the Keresan name Sini (“Zuni Indian”). In the Zuni language, the Zuni call themselves siwi.
In the early part of the twentieth century, a large amount of anthropological work was carried out among the Zuni. In the 1930’s Ruth Bunxel, working within the ethnographic tradition, published a collection of Zuni texts and the first Zuni grammar; however, it was not until 1965, when Stanley Newman published his grammar, that there was an accurate and precise linguistic description of the language. Newman had previously published a Zuni dictionary in 1958. Later work on the Zuni language has been done by Willard Walker, Julian Granberry, and Carol Stout. Dennis Tedlock investigated Zuni poetics (1972). Overall, however, there is very little material available on this American Indian language.
Linguistic characteristics of Zuni include glottalized consonants, long versus short vowels, aspirated stop consonants, and devoicing of vowels and sonorants at the end of words. Grammatical traits include dual versus plural number distinction, reduplication, and noun incorporation, in which the object is incorporated in the verb. The basic word order of Zuni is subject-verb-object.
Zuni is usually considered a language isolate, since it cannot be proved to be related to any other language. A number of long-distance genetic relationships, however, have been proposed. Edward Sapir tentatively included it with the Aztec-Tanoan group, George Trager thought it also related to Kiowa-Tanoan, and Morris Swadesh tried to relate Zuni to Mixean (this was met with absolutely no acceptance). Finally, Stanley Newman attempted to demonstrate a relationship with Penutian, based on some 123 proposed, but mostly doubtful, cognates as evidence. None of these proposals has been demonstrated satisfactorily.
Zuni shares some linguistic traits, assumed to be attributable to diffusion, with other languages of the Pueblo area (the Keresan language family and the Kiowa-Tanoan language family).